well, you're locked up in prison for god-knows-how-long... might as well be friendly with your guards :dunno:

 

I'm being serious. I bet if you sat down with Saddam for an hour and a half you'd walk away thinking he was a really nice guy.


How do you think people like him get into and maintain power even when they are doing horrible things? Pure charisma.

 

i dont think so.

 

Read stuff on people like anti-social psychopaths, and you will see how people can seem like the most charming, honest, and simple people on the planet, and can also act in disregard of any moral rule or law at the same time.

Part of Saddam's power came from the fact that he was able to convince people that his life and wellbeing were somehow more important than their own or their countrymens'. You can only do that through fear and subjugation for so long. People like him live on the normal people who get the idea that he's really a great guy, who's like them but just somehow better, and somehow they want to protect him on a deeper and more personal level. Combine those masses with people who are afraid to revolt because they know they will be killed immediately, and you have one contained society.

Ever wonder how Kim Jong-Il, the single most goofy-midget-insane dictator in history, has managed to prevent a revolt in one of the most starved countries in asia? It's not his glasses and platform shoes; it's a combination of the traits that are similar to what Saddam has.

 

Just you wait until his trial. You'll see.

 

I knew a man when I was growing up who was Jewish and lived in germany at the time of Hitlers rise to power.

He said that listening to that man speak was like no other. He had a silver tongue the devil himself never possesed. He had a way about him and his speech that motivated hundreds of thousands into supporting him even though what he stood for was morally reprehensible.

This is how these people come into power, they have to be highly diplomatic and personable in order to gain the trust of whoever is needed at the time. Once the person or people are no longer needed then they show their true colours.

I have no doubt if I were to sit and talk with him for a few hours I would walk away thinking he was an ok guy, even though I know he was far from a good man to his people.